Oppression+and+Prejudice+in+America

Topic
toc Oppression and Predjudice in America

The range and depth of potential topics covered in this unit can be tailored to suit any classroom. Prejudice and oppression are topics that many works of literature focus on. There was and always will be conflict in America. The titles chosen in this unit show struggles as well as the will to overcome. The Bluest Eye and Flowers For Algernon illustrate two very different views of oppression. However, both works of literature express the desire to persevere. It is because of those who have struggled before us that we are able to build a better America. Not only does literature expose the prejudice that many Americans have faced but the song in this unit titled What A Wonderful World was intended as an antidote for the increasingly racially and politically charged climate of everyday life in America. The song also has a hopeful optimistic tone with regard to the future, with reference to babies being born into the world and having much to look forward to.

Common Core Standards
**RL.11- 12.6:** Determine an author's point of view or purpose in a text in which the rhetoric is particularly effective, analyzing how style and content contribute to the power, persuasiveness, or beauty of the text. **W.11-12.4:** Produce clear and coherent writing in which the development, organization, and style are appropriate to task, purpose, and audience. Make strategic use of digital media in presentations to enhance understanding of findings, reasoning, and evidence and to add interest. **L.11-12.6:** Acquire and use accurately general academic and domain specific words and phrases sufficient for reading, writing ,speaking, and listening at the college and career readiness level; demonstrate independence in gathering vocabulary knowledge when considering a word or phrase important to comprehension or expression. **RL. 11-12.2** Determine two or more themes or central ideas of a text and analyze their development over the course of the text, including how they interact and build on one another to produce a complex account; provide an objective summary of the text. **RL. 11-12.7** Analyze multiple interpretations of a story, drama, or poem (e.g; recorded or live production of a play or recorded novel or poetry), evaluating how each version interprets the source text **RI.11-12.3** Analyze a complex set of ideas or sequence of events and explain how specific individuals, or ideas and events interact and develop over the course of the text. **W11-12.1** Write arguments to support claims in an analysis of substantive topics or texts, using valid reasoning and relevant and sufficient evidence. Define and explain oppression and prejudice in America. Explore the relationship between historical events and literature. Define and explain the loss of innocence that occurs during times of oppression. Identify modernist ideas. Analyze the relationship between those with the will to overcome and those who impose oppression. Examine evidence of the insecure that impose prejudice. Analyze how oppression can influence American life. Express how fictional characters overcome prejudice and oppression.
 * RL.11-12.1 ** : Cite strong and thorough textual evidence to support analysis of what the text says explicitly as well as inferences drawn from the text, including determining where the text leaves matters uncertain.
 * RL 11-12.5: ** Analyze and evaluate the effectiveness of the structure an author uses in his or her exposition or argument, including whether the structure makes points clear, convincing, and engaging.
 * RL. 11-12.9 ** Demonstrate knowledge of eighteenth-, nineteenth-, and early twentieth- century foundational works of American literature, including how two or more texts from the same period treat similar themes or topics.
 * W. 11-12.2 ** Write informative/explanatory texts to examine and convey complex ideas, concepts, and information clearly and accurately through the effective selection, organization, and analysis of content.
 * SL 11-12.1 ** Write arguments to support claims in an analysis of substantive topics or texts, using valid reasoning and relevant and sufficient evidence.
 * SL 11-12.4: ** Present information, findings, and supporting evidence, conveying a clear and distinct perspective, such that listeners can follow the line of reasoning, alternative or opposing perspectives are addressed, and the organization, development, substance, and style are appropriate to purpose, audience, and a range or formal and informal tasks.
 * L. 11-12.1: ** Demonstrate command of the conventions of Standard English grammar and usage when writing or speaking.
 * W. 11-12.1: ** Write arguments to support claims in an analysis of substantive topics or texts, using valid reasoning and relevant and sufficient evidence.
 * W. 11-12.2: ** Write informative/ explanatory texts to examine and convey complex concepts, and information clearly and accurately through the effective selection, organization, and analysis of content.

Suggested Student Objectives

 * Define and explain oppression and prejudice in America.
 * Explore the relationship between historical events and literature.
 * Define and explain the loss of innocence that occurs during times of oppression.
 * Identify modernist ideas.
 * Analyze the relationship between those with the will to overcome and those who impose oppression.
 * Examine evidence of the insecure individuals (character traits) that impose prejudice.
 * Analyze how oppression can influence American life.
 * Express how fictional characters overcome prejudice and oppression.
 * Analyze how tone is established in persuasive writing.
 * Compare and contrast point of view in arguments presented on related issues.
 * Analyze the qualities of an effective argument (i.e., the truthfulness and validity of the argument, as well as its rhetorical devices).
 * Apply knowledge of effective arguments when writing one of your own.

Suggested Additional Readings
//The Bluest Eye// by Toni Morrison //Flowers for Algernon// by Daniel Keyes //A Raisin in the Sun// by Lorraine Hansberry (these works of literature can all be found in the bookroom).
 * Novels/Drama ** :

//The Flowers// (Walker) //We Wear the Mask// (Dunbar) Prentice Hall The American Experience pg. 614 //A Worn Path// (Welty) Prentice Hall The American Experience pg. 710 //A Black Man Talks of Reaping// (Bontemps) Prentice Hall The American Experience pg. 916 //Elena// (Mora) //The Flilipino and the Drunkard// (Saroyan) //Mother to Son// (Langston Hughes) //I Will Fight No More// (Chief Joseph) Prentice Hall The American Experience pg. 455 //Leaves of Grass (//Walt Whitman)
 * Short Stories/Poems: **

**Articles/Essays/Memoirs:** //Little Things are Big// (Colon) //Portal of Freedom, The Declaration of Independence// Thomas Jefferson Prentice Hall The American Experience pg. 144.

**Speeches:** MLK "I Have a Dream" Winston Churchill "We Shall Fight Them On The Beaches" Winston Churchill "Iron Curtain" Ronald Reagan "Tear Down This Wall". The speeches can all be found on Discovery Education online.

**Art Music and Media:** //What A Wonderful World// by Louis Armstrong

William Lloyd Garrison – On the Death of John Brown

“Inaugural Address speech by Nelson Mandela”

This site has short videos that are about prejudice: Understanding Prejudice

Resource Links

 * Prentice Hall Literature The American Experience (The Red Book)
 * Discovery Education online
 * The novels can be found in the bookroom
 * Additional websites can be found above

Activitie**s**
Reflect on seminar discussion questions, take notes on your responses in your notebook and cite the page numbers of textual evidence you will refer to in your seminar/discussions/writings. Share notes with a partner for feedback and guidance. Make sure interpreted text/ quotations are correct. Be certain that all evidence is cited. **RL. 11-12.1, Sl. 11-12.1** Reflect on texts in order to write a solid paragraph about developing a controlling sentence about a specific theme that is related to two works. The paragraph must demonstrate how each text develops that theme. Evidence must be cited. Your teacher may give you an outline about how the paragraph should be structured. You may also be given critical feedback from classmates in order to determine that you have written this “controlling Idea” paragraph. **R.L. 11-12.2, R.l. 11-12.7. W.11-12.1** Reflect on a specific excerpt from a novel, short story, poem, or memoir in order to write a paragraph about how the work is developed through a certain perspective. Why did the author choose this particular point of view and how is it effective? Textual evidence must be cited. Your teacher may give you an outline about how the paragraph should be structured. You may also be given critical feedback from classmates. **R.L. 11-12.3, W.11-12.2** **Seminar and Writing (Information/Explanatory)** What are the effects of point of view on the reader's understanding of events in the work of literature? Why do you think the author chose to tell the story from his point of view? **RL. 11-12.5, SL. 11-12.4, W.11-12.9a** Reflect on texts in order to write a solid paragraph about a developing controlling sentence which relates to a specific theme that is related to two works. The paragraph must demonstrate how each text develops that theme. Evidence must be cited. **RL.11-12.2, R.L 11-12.7, W.11-12.1** Students will be given a series of quotations based on oppression and prejudice. These may come from the text itself. They will write a ten minute explanation of what the quotation means and their opinion of it. Once this is done, students in groups will share their writings with each other. One student will then give the best oral commentary from the group. Students will be given time to critique and explain why it succeeds. **R.L. 11-12.1, RI. 11-12.1** Read the draft of a classmate’s essay and highlight sentences that show evidence of sophisticated vocabulary and sentence structure. Highlight any areas that need revision. **L.11-12.1, L.11-12.2** Examine one of the texts studied in this unit for usage (e.g., words or conventions) that differs from contemporary usage. Discuss with classmates online or in class whether and/or how the meanings of words and/or sentence structure has changed since that time. “translate” instances of antiquated syntax into contemporary sentences; determine whether and/or how the meaning of the sentence is affected by the translation. **L. 11-12.1** Create a mixed-media presentation that summarizes one of the novels or speeches you have read or listened to and presents questions that you think the novel raises about its uniquely American themes. **RL. 11-12.1, W. 11-12.6, Sl. 11-12.5**
 * Collaboration: **
 * Controlling Idea Writing: **
 * Writing Based on Point of View: **
 * Paragraph Writing Based on Th **** eme ** :
 * Explanatory and Oral Commentary: **
 * Grammar and Mechanics: **
 * Grammar and Usage: **
 * Mixed-Media Presentation: **
 * Speech: **
 * Compose a solid paragraph where you discuss the speaker’s point of view. What were their main points? What were they trying to persuade you to believe? Were they effective? Why? Why not? How did they exemplify America’s core conflicts and its finest values? What were their views on oppression and prejudice? ** R.I 11-12.9 SL. 11-12.3 **
 * Select a one- to two-minute passage from one of the texts and recite it from memory. Include an introduction that states: What the excerpt is from, Who wrote it, and Why it exemplifies The American Nation or Oppression and Prejudice. ** RL. 11-12.9 SL. 11-12.6 **

Assessments

 * Teacher will be certain that students have met the criteria for the objectives by grading and commenting on all written work that the student hands in.
 * Giving students a test/quiz about what was discussed, read, or learned.
 * Having students write their own comments about what is being understood (or not understood) or their feeling about particular concepts and ideas.
 * Circulating the room, checking to make sure that the students are working well together and completing work.
 * Monitoring individual student progress during the class.
 * Observing students as they work (read, write, respond to questions)
 * Listening and responding to students as they discuss (in a seminar or as a class)
 * Observing student behavior or discussions, questions, during the lesson.
 * Having students hand in particular assignments that are based on the core curriculum standards
 * Questioning students about anything they might be concerned with
 * Taking note of what students seem to grasp and what they are having difficulties with.